Why Creating Blog Content Is So Difficult

Have a blog? Then you probably understand how difficult it can be coming up with new things to write about again and again. And again.

You probably started out with good intentions. You wrote faithfully day after day, week after week. Until life got in the way.

And then things changed.

A client had an “emergency”, which means everything else was put on hold while you put that fire out.

Or you took a long weekend with four days off. And of course that meant playing catch up for the next week – and the blogging was put on hold.

Or maybe you had every intention of writing. You were even poised at the computer, hands above the keyboard ready to type. What do you type about? After surfing aimlessly for 30 minutes with no concrete idea in mind, you eventually shut everything down.

Yep, writing can be difficult. Especially if writing isn’t your favorite thing to do. In fact, people usually come up with three reasons why blogging is hard for them:

1. Thinking of things to write about is difficult

2. Finding the time to blog is difficult

3. Writing in a responsive manner is difficult

You probably see yourself in one of those three statements. All can be legitimate reasons for holding you back, and not accomplishing what you set out to do.

Yet all can have solutions as well if you put your mind to it.

Thinking of Ideas

Lets start with a few tools to come up with things to write about.

What do your clients think?
Clients are always filled with ideas and can help you come up with dozens of new topic ideas. As you are meeting them, whether its for the first time in a pre-sales consultation, a client meeting, or a follow up conversation, have a pen and paper handy and write down their questions and comments.

If you see questions popping up again and again, this is a sure indication of a place your clientele needs more education. And a perfect place to start writing and creating blog content.

30 days
There is something about brainstorming that works well, no matter what you are trying to accomplish. If I asked you to come up with one thing you want to do around your home this weekend, you would probably stop to think about it. But if I asked you to give me 30 things you want to do around your home this summer, I’m sure the list would quickly form itself.

One thing is concrete. You must settle on the one thing you wish to do, which puts importance and relevance on that one project. So you stop to think about it to determine if that is the best thing you could do with your time.

Yet by coming up with a list of 30 items, there is no measurement in place. It’s a “wish list”, even if you have every intention of completing all tasks. 30 times also allows you to put things together and build off of a previous idea. Things naturally go together and feed one item into the next when you are giving it your full attention.

Give it a try. You’ll see how easy the ideas pop into place.

Finding the time

Once you have ideas in mind, the next part is scheduling the time to actually create your blog content.

If you have a client meeting, you put it on the schedule and are in place waiting for when they arrive. If you have a doctor’s appointment, you leave your home or office in time to drive over and check in on time – all thanks to putting a note on your calendar.

Why don’t you schedule the time you need to write as well?

If you make writing a priority – and it should be; it is a marketing tool – then you’ll create the time to do it.

Creating responsive content

And finally it may come down to the thought of having to create blog content that is motivational, attracts visitors that want to read what you wrote, and motivates them to take action.

You never liked English class in school, and it takes you hours to write a simple letter. Do you really want to try and create fresh content on a regular basis?

In today’s world, its not a necessity to do it all by yourself. In fact there is an easy way to have great content on a timely basis – you get the credit and do little of the work.

Its called ghost blogging. A writing expert creates content targeted towards your niche and market, and you get all the credit.

If you can’t write, hate writing, or simply don’t have the time, what could be better?

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With: , ,

How To Be An Effective Content Writer

What makes a storyteller great? It’s the same thing that makes a content writer great – they understand how draw you in and make you believe.

My daughter has been blogging this summer, and she came to me this week with a statement I hear from people all the time. “I have nothing more to write about.” So we started talking.

Her belief stemmed from thinking that because she started a story on another blog post, she couldn’t use the same thoughts again in the current one she was writing. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When a person finds your blog post, they are usually coming in on that blog post. Which means they’ve been pointed to your post via Twitter or Facebook, the search engines, or maybe your newsletter. In any case, they don’t live and breathe your business like you do. So they don’t know that three weeks ago you wrote a post on something similar, and essentially started your story. You can tell them:

“Three weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about …” and then hyperlink it over to your post so they can read if they choose to do so. But they don’t know the beginning to the story unless you tell them.

Every post is a single thought.

Every post is a single story.

Every post should have a beginning, middle and end.

And if you infer previous knowledge into your post, you’ll likely lose and confuse your reader. Which is the last thing you want to do if you are trying to gain a following, and gain new customers.

Before you start your next blog post, ask yourself a series of questions:

  • What do I want to teach in this post?
  • What knowledge do people need to understand before reading my post (if any)?
  • Can I hyperlink them to other pages on my site, or throughout the web in order to make my point stronger?
  • Can I use pictures or graphics to provide a visual to what I’m talking about?
  • Does my title sufficiently state what my post will be about?
  • Does my post tell a story, and have a beginning, middle and end?

If you think about the best movies, or the best books you’ve read, it’s probably because the picture was painted so completely, you almost felt you were there along side of the characters. The beginning gave you enough knowledge to become intimately involved with the characters. The middle provided some hurdle or some problem they needed to overcome. And the ending gave you the solution – a solution you could buy into and accept.

While a book is going to paint a much deeper picture than a blog post, on a smaller scale it’s a similar process. State the problem, and give a solution. Set the stage in the beginning to make you get involved with finding the solution. And allow people to get involved.

Whether you fill up your blog with content, or wonder how to Tweet or Facebook again and again without getting bored – or boring others – just remember it’s always about the story. Your story may be 140 characters long, or span 30 blog posts. It’s all content. And in order to make people want to read more, they have to come along on the journey with you. No matter how long the story needs to be.

And that’s the only way to become an effective content writer.

image source

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With: ,

Being a Content Writer Means Writing For Your Visitors

What’s the hardest thing to do with a blog? Finding new things to write about on a weekly basis.

But in order to stay meaningful to your readers, and relevant to the search engines, being a content writer means doing exactly that – writing content. Content Writer

Keep these 5 tips in mind when you’re finding new things to write about.

1. What questions do people have when you’re out networking? These are informational ideas that would be great starter posts for your blog. Probably the most common question I get when out networking and talking about how to use social networking for your business is, “Why would people care what I have for lunch?” So that spurred my post on Social Copywriting.

2. What questions do your customers have? A recent client came back several months after we had developed her blog. She stated she still wasn’t having any results, even though she had been blogging for several months. One look at her blog gave me insight – and a reason to create my blog post on Blog Titles.

3.What resources are new in your field? When Sony released their Bloggie Camera earlier this year, we were one of the first in line to buy it – and share it on our site as a resource. If you’re blogging, this is a must have camera. Why not share it as a resource with our followers? What makes a great resource for your readers?

4. What can you teach? Every industry leader has a huge amount of knowledge they can share with their prospects and customers. It’s not about giving them all of the information they need to accomplish everything – it’s more about sharing your knowledge to showcase your expertise on your subject matter. How about a how-to section? You can write your content – or use your Bloggie to create a video.

5. Make people aware of what they might not know. Your customers don’t work in your industry, and don’t keep up with the latest happenings. Put simply, they don’t know what they don’t know. Which is why you are there to remind them of things. When they get that a-ha moment, and you’re the one that provided it, you’re more likely to remain in their minds. And become a valuable resource in their toolbox.

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With:

Content Marketing – A Basic Guide

Want to move forward into the new decade with a successful plan in place? Create a content marketing plan. content marketing

Content Marketing is the process that allows a company to market their business by providing quality content to attract new customers. It’s not about selling – it’s about building the relationship. It’s not about interrupting a customer to bring you your message – it’s about letting your customer request the information that’s right for him or her and moving forward at their own pace.

If you’ve been marketing for a while, (and by awhile I mean 5 years or more) you’ve probably focused on advertising. Your goal with every form of marketing is to promote you and your products and your business. Not so with content marketing.

Content marketing is about building value and trust. It’s about having quality content available in many different formats, and letting your customers and prospects decide what’s right for them.

Start with a blog
One of the reasons blogging is taking the Internet by storm is the ability to add content whenever you choose. Start with my site TheSocialGhost. I started it with the sole premise of providing quality content on how you can utilize content to the best of your ability. My goal is to give you quality tips every week, and help you understand how important content is. Do I have services available like ghost writing? Definitely. And I promote them in subtle ways (how’s this for subtle!). But I also know only a few people that read this post will have any interest in ghost writing at all. Most are looking for ideas they can use to build on. And because I know the importance, I’m willing to share my knowledge freely to help everyone understand blogging and content marketing a little bit more.

A blog puts you in the drivers seat. A blog gives you the control to add content whenever you choose, day or night.

Build with a list
Having a blog is great, but it’s the list that really makes your business profitable. Because without a list of clients and prospects to market to, your business has little value.

So once you have your blog in place and you’ve started to add quality content, its time to build a list. In the simplest form, you can do that by promoting your RSS feed, and having people sign up to monitor your new posts. Or take it to the next level and offer a free report, whitepaper, audio or video recording, and have people sign up for it. (Have you signed up for my free audio file? It has a ton of quality content.)

This list is your golden tool for building all the business you desire from this point forward.

Add in a little social
Why is social growing in leaps and bounds? Because it allows you to freely share content in any way you choose.

Have you ever Googled yourself? What comes up? Especially if you are a small business, you need to monitor this all the time. You can control what’s coming up by feeding in content. We have huge followings on Facebook and Twitter. When we link to a post, we can drive thousands of page views with just a couple mentions on social sites.

The key is to get the following and the comments rolling on social sites that you can’t control, and lead them right back to the content you do control on your blog.

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With:

Content Writing For Top Performance

What is the secret of content writing? How can you write content for your site in such a way that it attracts the attention of both your readers and the search engines?

Ultimately, it starts with your readers. When people come to your site, whether they’ve been reading for years, or have just found you through the search engines, you’re ultimate goal is to have them attracted to your writing style. content writing

In just a few moments, you want your reader to be able to really get into your story, see him or herself in your writing, and have the desire to move to the next level. To take action.

The easiest way to become better at writing is to create your blog posts like you would be telling a story to a potential customer. How would you speak to them?

“Selling isn’t fun and most people don’t enjoy it.”

You may agree with that sentence, but does it really motivate you to want to take the next step or to find out more about what the person is saying? Compare that to:

“Jane hated selling. She hated it so much she almost decided to close her business because of it. She loved working with the clients, making them happy, and following up with them after the sale. But it was always the initial meeting that made her nervous. She never wanted to come across as a used car salesperson. She didn’t want people thinking she was pushy.”

If you hate selling, you can instantly feel Jane’s pain. You can put yourself into her situation, and feel exactly what she’s feeling. You also want to read more of the story – what happens next? Does Jane shut down her business? Or does she find a solution?

That’s the way you want to write. Let your writers feel what you are talking about. Bring out the details. Describe the situation how someone looking in would see it. Describe it from one person’s point of view.

Great books always pull you in because they tell a story. They make you want to read further because you want to find out what’s next.

Do the same with your blog.

Do this with every post. And do it between different posts. Make people move from one spot to the next.

The more you can pull them in, the greater they will stick to your blog. And the bigger the chance of them becoming customers in the future.

[Need help with your own content writing skills? Why not hire a ghostwriter? We’ve been writing online and blog content for clients for over 8 years, and can help you reach out to your target audience, and find new ways of bringing in business.]

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Website Content Writer

Have you ever stopped to think about what your website really says to the reader? That’s what a website content writer does – they focus on what your site says, and how it reads to prospects and customers that visit.

One of the first questions I ask when someone hires me as a website content writer is:

What do you know that your prospects and clients don’t?

This question begins building on what you know by being an expert in your field. It helps to gather information on what your clients need to know, and how to share it with them in a way that means something to them. But it doesn’t stop there. website content writer

What do you learn just by being in the business that would be of interest to those that may do business with you down the road?

Even though you’ve been in the business “forever” and know everything about the industry, your clients and prospects don’t. That’s why Google is currently being searched 31 billion times every month – people use it to get the answers they are looking for.

That’s the type of information that a website content writer gains and uses to fill your site and your blog with quality content. It’s about educating your client first, and selling to them second.

Whenever I mention blogging and content marketing to people I network with, I usually hear the same thing, “I just don’t have that much to talk about”. If that’s your tendency as well, let me ask you a few questions:

  • Tell me about your business.
  • Why is your company different than others?
  • Who has been your favorite client?
  • What excites you about working in your industry?

If you’re like most people, you’ll come alive. I’m sure you can talk for hours on your business – you probably do so everyday. I’m sure you’re very passionate about what you do, and know a lot about your industry. You probably have a ton of experience, and really enjoy being able to help people with your services.

That’s what you blog.

  • Talk about your favorite client.
  • Talk about how you saved a client hundreds of dollars a month.
  • Talk about the research you do to find the perfect product for each customer.
  • Share your expertise.

Do you get it? Then it’s time to start blogging – and filling up your web presence with good, quality content. Whether you need a blog, or a website content writer, we can help you start attracting clients online.

Filed Under: Content Marketing Tagged With: